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Clare Mackintosh wins 2016 Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year

Tonight, it was announced that Clare Mackintosh has been awarded the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for I LET YOU GO.

Clare Mackintosh said: “I first came to Harrogate as an unpublished author so to win this award tonight is a dream come true. I would like to thank my publishers and agent for supporting me, everybody who has read and recommended I Let You Go, and the crime writing community for their endless encouragement.”

The 2016 Award is sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd and supported by WHSmith and The Radio Times.

Clare collected a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved oak beer cask made by Theakston Old Peculier.

A special presentation was made to Val McDermid – the winner of the seventh Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award. McDermid joins Sara Paretsky, Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill as recipients of the Award.

Val said: “It’s an honour and a thrill to receive this award. The community of writers and readers at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is unlike any other in its warmth and generosity and so this means a huge amount to me. This year sees the publication of my 30th novel and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate that.”

Crime writer Mark Billingham paid tribute to Val at the awards ceremony, he said: “It’s fitting that Val should receive this award at a festival she was instrumental in starting, and it’s one that is richly deserved. She has represented this genre quite brilliantly all over the world, both in person and through her novels, which have earned her legions of fans and a place among the very greatest crime writers of all time. She is the Queen of Crime, and long may she reign over us.”